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Gardening Lessons Learned the Hard Way: Aphids

Most gardening enthusiasts know that aphids have a tendency to attack roses. I have been fortunate so far in my rose growing experience, both at this house and our previous house, that I have not had to deal with aphids on any of my roses. I do take preventative steps to keep them away though. I regularly purchase and release ladybugs into the garden. I also regularly spray the roses with a soapy water mixture, with phosphate free dish soap. Lastly, I spray the roses with a seaweed extract and add compost and fertilizer regularly to keep them healthy.

One evening last week, I noticed that my corn was suddenly infested with aphids. I was a little panicked since I had never had to deal with them up until now. I had no idea that aphids will also eat corn. I used my air pressurized water sprayer to spray my soapy water mixture on them, and it killed them all, plus has been preventing new ones from coming around. I sprayed all of my corn, even the non-affected ones, just to be safe. My corn is a reasonable distance away from my roses, so I also picked up and relocated a few ladybugs over to the corn area as extra protection. So far, this simple method has been working amazingly well!